This invention relates to a web advancement and cutting mechanism where several individual segments or frames of the web are advanced at each stage of the process. The web at each cycle of operation must be advanced and stopped in accurate relationship between the frames thereof and the cutting mechanism. More particularly, this invention relates to a film advancement system for a film cutter of the type used in a commercial processing laboratory for cutting a customer's film into strips of several individual frames for packaging after printing.
In the commercial film processing business very high rates of processing must be achieved and maintained in order to operate profitably. Likewise quality of processing and care for the customers' film must be maintained at extremely high levels. This applies especially in the pre-packaging process of cutting customers' rolls of film into strips which will fit into the envelopes in which the individual customers will receive their orders. In commercial film processing, perhaps as many as five hundred to a thousand rolls of twelve, twenty and thirty-six exposure film are initially spliced together for processing and printing purposes. Thus for a time during processing, individual rolls of film lose their identity as part of a single large roll. Then after the prints are made, the individual customer's film must be separated from the large roll of film and cut into strips of several individual frames so that the strips can be placed flat in a delivery envelope together with the prints.
This step of cutting the film at splices to separate customer orders and cutting the orders into strips for packaging must be done accurately between picture frames so that no picture is damaged. Typically, this process may be done at up to 20,000 frames per hour in a large processing facility. An earlier, related device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,673 assigned to the same assignee as is the present invention.